For Ghana e-waste recyclers, a safer option amid toxic fumes

On any given day, plumes of noxious smoke rise above the Agbogbloshie dump site in Ghana's capital, Accra. The billowing black smoke comes from the many informal e-waste recyclers who take unwanted electronics, strip them of their cables and burn away the protective covers to reach the valuable copper beneath. It's a dangerous way to make a living, but an easily available one for the many unskilled workers arriving in search of money to get by. Ghana imports about 150,000 tons of secondhand electronics a year, according to a 2011 study coordinated under the Basel Convention, a global treaty on hazardous waste. Read more...